Long day at the vet hospital- they were super backed up and the trip took all day. Which is ok, because I don’t mind waiting because I know they are doing their best to save someone else’s dog and would do the same for me were it an emergency, but that doesn’t make the day any less long. Lily is fine.

trump thinks he’s showing who’s boss by canceling the Congressional trip. All it does is show how petty he is.

Part of me wonders if he’s trying to push the Shutdown to the point of forcing unpaid workers to quit their jobs en masse or go on strike, so he can claim that National Emergency he craves and go hog wild with executive power.

Not Trump’s usual bullshit. With the shutdown and this reckless act, Trump and the country is moving into lawless dangerous territory. Josh Marshall was the first person I noticed discussing the growing constitutional and legal problems with the shutdown. And coincidentally or not, I was thinking the same after puzzling my head from news reports of the arbitrary nature of what was shutdown or not, who forced to work without pay or not. See Marshall’s twitter feed from yesterday and today.

It is time to publicly discuss the very serious implications of what Trump and the executive branch are doing during the shutdown. Time to discuss impeachment and 25th Amendment every day. Time to start public discussions to get media to focus on McConnell’s dangerous malfeasance and treachery, rather than making up lies to cover for him.

I’d like to see a post on it from someone who knows this stuff, Adam, or Cheryl. Or some knowledgeable person from the BJ legal flying wedge can chip in.

@Litlebritdifrnt: he has no problem throwing anyone and everyone under the bus as long as it isn’t him. I want to see his ass cuffed with his arms behind his back while he is treated like the criminal he is….

@Litlebritdifrnt: Let’s see if this wakes the media up. If not, the situation will be worse than The Hunger Games. There, the effete media vicious fools blithely conducted theater criticism on crimes against humanity that were inflicted on the lesser people and could never touch them. In our current reality, it is becoming as if they continue this hilarious and disgusting behavior when members of their own class are targeted. Let us see.

BTW, I am interested to hear from BJ legal eagles on whether and when furloughed employees have power to bring, directly or indirectly, actions for civil damages and/or criminal charges against our lawless executive for arbitrary and lawless actions during the shutdown.

@Damien: I got my first dog at age 50 after having cats all my life. I did it and I love the guy – I can’t emphasize that enough – like nothing else in my life, but it is a LOT of work and far more time and attention than I thought. I recommend very highly that anyone thinking about doing this read the books put out by the monks of New Skete. They will give you an inkling of how to be a good dog owner.

I am sure you are right, but I still find myself on Trump’s side on this:

“I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan has been postponed,” Mr. Trump wrote in a letter addressed to Ms. Pelosi. “We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the shutdown is over.”

I don’t remotely blame Pelosi for the shutdown, and I’d be furious with her if she caved in to Trump, but she shouldn’t be immune from the consequences of it. If the shutdown really is the big deal that Democratic leaders portray (and I think it is), then an overseas trip by Democrats “to express appreciation & thanks to our men & women in uniform for their service & dedication” should wait.

If the shutdown really is the big deal that Democratic leaders portray (and I think it is), then an overseas trip by Democrats “to express appreciation & thanks to our men & women in uniform for their service & dedication” should wait.

You left out part of that sentence. Here I’ll finish it for you:
“The purpose of the trip was to express appreciation & thanks to our men & women in uniform for their service & dedication, & to obtain critical national security & intelligence briefings from those on the front lines.’

Tomorrow is going to be crazy for me at work. We are supposed to get a big snow storm this weekend so we’ve changed our clinic schedules in anticipation of problems driving. It means cramming one of our busiest days next week with our busiest day this week – plus all the panicked calls.

@jl: Speaking of the media, here’s a convenient aspect (for the Rethuglicans) of the shutdown and whatever is happening under its cover :

ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls in Detroit said he couldn’t respond to media inquiries because of the partial government shutdown.

(The quote is from the story about a mentally ill vet with PTSD from Afghanistan, arrested in Detroit for pulling a fire alarm in a hospital. US-born, but ICE contacted police to say they were picking him up. He spent three days in a detention center before the ACLU helped to get him released. Because he’s a fckin US citizen. He’s in bad shape right now. )

In 2010, Channing, dressed all in white and ready with a deliciously raspy “Look at the old girl now fellas,” returned to Broadway, performing at the New Amsterdam Theatre, with many returning “Dolly boys” from previous Hello Dolly! tours, to receive the “Gypsy Award” from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Channing’s last public appearance was on her 95th birthday at the McCallum Theater in Palm Desert, CA, said Boll.

Yashar Ali just tweeted that Melania Trump is in a government plane en route to MaraLargo and some guy who’s listening to air traffic control down there says they’re having to do some serious vectoring to fit her plane in line.

to obtain critical national security & intelligence briefings from those on the front lines

…says the Deputy Chief of Staff for Nancy Pelosi! A personal trip is not required for that.

Either the government shutdown is a big fucking deal, or it isn’t. And if it is Pelosi should be staying in Washington until it is resolved. And even if you don’t agree with that, Democratic leaders going on an overseas trip during the shutdown will present horrible optics. I’m surprised that the Democrats didn’t cancel this trip themselves.

@catclub: @Mary G:
This shutdown is evolving into unconstitutional lawlessness and unchecked arbitrary authoritarian power. It needs to be discussed. The media and too much of the commentary on it is on a ‘Mean Girls’ level, which my students assure me is an eternal classic, like Citizen Kane and Grand Illusion…. but still…

There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution about the manner in which Trump delivers his message to Congress. and Pelosi made a suggestion, not a demand. Trump recklessly and vindictively and lawlessly interfered with constitutionally mandated duties of Congress this morning. And, more lawless arbitrary executive action today in conduct of the shutdown.

@The Moar You Know: Their tapes are good too. Lil Bit is struggling to walk and has been for a while. I am pretty much having to drag her but I think it’s important to keep her going. Yesterday week took our noon jaunt down the street to White Tiger and some woman decided I was abusing her and stuck her nose in my business. I was as cool as I could be and just said “lay my life is devoted to these dogs, I don’t need you help telling me what to do”!

I shared this the other day: several times a day, I have to talk myself off the ledge re: We are sliding into some sort of failed state, that we are experiencing a shock doctrine disaster capitalism dismantling of the government as we know it, that the House being in Democratic hands may not be enough counterweight.

I took great comfort earlier in noting that the trash was picked up as always, Thursday mid-morning.

@Yarrow: They won’t because the GOP Congressional Delegation (CODEL) led two weeks ago by that ignoramus Lee Zeldin wasn’t an issue. Nor was the President’s own trip to Iraq during the shutdown, nor Melania’s flying to Mar a Lago as I type this, nor Mnuchin’s delegation to Davos next week.

@Mandalay: it was a CODEL trip, layover in Brussels to switch out pilots and meet with NATO members, done on the QT to prevent bad guys with a target of opportunity, this was not a publicity stunt, it was a trip including both GOP and Dem members of Congress.

@Mandalay: The shutdown is becoming a big fucking deal. Period. I disagree with some of what you say, but I sense a lot of agreement between us on underlying issues. I sense a deal in the making between us.

I do agree Democrats should be making a bigger deal about the shutdown. I agree with Marshall that it is a very slow motion constitutional crisis.
Bottom line for me is that what Pelosi did was wrt message to Congress was perfectly acceptable. What Trump did today definitely is not.

@Mandalay: 1) She wasn’t going to Egypt on this trip. 2) Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin led a GOP CODEL about ten days or so ago also during the shutdown. 3) Melania is currently on AF1 en route to Mar a Lago. 4) Secretary Mnuchin is leading an executive branch delegation to Davos next week.

I’m a retired US Dept of State employee and my job as a General Services Officer, involved running logistics at Embassies, Consulates and Missions overseas. I worked on Presidential, Vice Presidental, SecState, SecDef visits and numerous CoDels (supporting both Senate and House members) to Japan, Hong Kong, Oman, Bahrain, Laos, Switzerland and Afghanistan.

However, having been overseas during several government shutdowns I am astounded that Speaker Pelosi would contemplate such a trip at this time.

There would have been numerous furloughed Foreign Service Officers called in to work in support without pay. The cost of such a trip would have been enormous – the cost of MilAr, hotels and local transportation probably would have been over $250,000.

Trump pulling the MilAir is typically petty but the trip should have been cancelled days ago.

Trump did the Democrats a favor by sabotaging their trip. The media would have been creaming their pants:

The Democrats have been in office for 10 minutes and they are off on an expensive overseas junket, forcing furloughed workers come in for them, while President Trump waits for their return to resolve the shutdown….

@raven: A lot of individual things the government does don’t do shit. A lot of individual income tax returns and refunds don’t do shit. But we have laws about how things are done. Trump and his flunkies are acting in a dangerously lawless way.

@Mandalay: I’m guessing that the idea was a mix of 1) Congress is a co-equal branch and 2) the wisest thing to do with a toddler in melt down is often (after checking that he is safe) to completely ignore them. Go on with calmly making dinner, setting the table, etc.

Because as always, there is important work that!needs doing, and Pelosi is going ahead and doing it. She is showing that there is continuity, that Trump is not the boss of her (or the rest of the co-equal branch).

Will Fox News misrepresent this? Of course. What can the Democratic leadership do that they don’t?

@Mandalay: The President has just announced an unplanned for withdrawal of US troops in Afghanistan. Last week it was reported that the President keeps telling his senior staff and advisors he wants to unilaterally pull out of NATO. The GOP majority in the Senate will not do anything about either. Having the Democratic Speaker of the House go and reassure NATO partners and hear from them, as well as having two or her top, relevant chairs – Schiff at Intel and Engel at Foreign Affairs – meet with NATO counterparts and collect information and then go on and do the same thing with the US theater commanding general in Afghanistan, his senior staff, and our NATO partner’s commanding generals and their staffs in Afghanistan has real value. Moreover, none of the Department of State personnel deployed forward in Afghanistan are furloughed. Every one of those foreign service officers and contractors are listed, on their deployment orders and letters of authorization, as emergency essential personnel.

@Adam L Silverman: After you and some other folks invoked me in the Tulsi Gabbard thread. I offered to do a Q and A on Hinduism, Indian politics and caste etc. There seemed to be a fair amount of interest. Let me find the thread and will send you an email.

I really think the way to go is to have the airports effectively shut down because of workers calling out sick. TSA, air traffic controllers, whatever federal workers at airports. Let Sheldon Adelson see how he likes it when his customers can’t come because McCarran is closed. Other federal transportation and port workers would help too. Let the Kochs and the Waltons figure out how to get goods to market. I am waiting to see what happens when food stamps get cut. There was a piece I read a year or two ago of how much food stamp money goes through rural area grocery markets. It helps keep a small town going. Presumably a small red town.

Problem as I see it ain’t one of lacking reasons to impeach the motherfucker — for they are legion, even w/o the Mueller report, and shutting down government, rightly seen, is clearly an impeachable act by a criminal president and just yet another justification to add to the impeachment bill of particulars.

Problem ain’t reasons to proceed, it’s agreeing upon and summoning the will — the courage, really — to actually do something about it. So many would rather limp along and vaingloriously hope for the best rather than take that next (to them) unimaginable step to redress an untenable crisis. It’s like refusing to see a doctor when you suspect yer sick cuz — oh, fuck, really! — you’re worried you might find out it’s so. Gravely so. So you ignore it and hope for the best.

Imagine the captain of a vessel at sea who is rage-drunk, self-justifyingly paranoid and adamantly refuses to accept reality. The entire crew of the vessel is at the mercy of a reactionary delusional belligerent who refuses to yield his considerable unworthy will till he goddamn well figures out who stole his strawberries wall and returns him his precious.

Trump’s juvenile stupidity and petulence and lawlessness are a given. It’s on us as a country to do something about it, and, present company excepted, the mushy middle ain’t there yet.

It’s fucking frustrating, but all’s we can do is keep banging that drum.

addendum: The right ain’t never gonna be onboard, course, but saw a snippet by Atrios today that I thought really caught the zeitgeist of the spiteful wingers’ lament.

MOJO

Most people had the luxury of missing most of it, so only politics obsessed weirdo bloggers and blog readers really saw it, but post-9/11 conservatives really acted like they were going to rule the known universe forever. They strutted and swaggered. Each one a hero. The invasion of Iraq goosed it up another notch. They were all warrior humanitarians from the comfort of their recliners. Democracy, Whisky, Sexy!!!

The late Bush years and then Obama took away that powerful feeling, and Trump didn’t bring it back. They’re still so unhappy.

@Adam L Silverman:
McCarthy is such a fitting name. Joseph McCarthy was a sort-of bootlicker too when it suited his interests, wasn’t he?

I have to imagine the people that were involved in the planning and coordinating of this trip are pissed at Trump.

I really don’t understand why McCarthy’s sucking up to Trump. His poll numbers are crashing because of the shutdown, even among his supporters. This isn’t a fight Trump is going to win. Didn’t a hundred Rs break ranks and vote with the D majority to reimpose sanctions on Deripaska’s companies? It’s true that it wasn’t going to do anything because the Senate was going to block it, but that doesn’t say much for either Trump’s support or McCarthy’s leadership.

It is, but nobody should kid themselves that it is co-equal with the president when it comes to foreign policy on a day to day basis.

She is showing that there is continuity, that Trump is not the boss of her

Accepted, but regardless of that, it is horrible optics to be overseas – and therefore unavailable for negotiation with the president – during a shutdown. It sends a very mixed message to the average voter.

Schumer and Pelosi went running to the media after Trump refused to negotiate and left the room the other day. So how would it look if Trump now says he can’t negotiate on the shutdown because Pelosi is on an overseas junket? It doesn’t require FoxNews to make the Democrats look bad in that situation.

@Raven: There are always other ways to do things. But there’s only so much one can get from secure video teleconferences. Right now both our theater command group and our NATO allies feel like they’re out on the wrong side of a branch that the President is sawing off, doing this in person is important.

1980s crisis
The United States experienced a major agricultural crisis during the 1980s. Record production during this time led to a fall in the price of commodities. Exports fell, due in part to the 1980 United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union. Farm debt for land and equipment purchases soared during the 1970s and early 1980s, doubling between 1978 and 1984. Other negative economic factors included high interest rates, high oil prices and a strong dollar. By the mid-1980s, the crisis had reached its peak. Land prices had fallen dramatically leading to record foreclosures. The Farm Credit System experienced large losses, which were the first losses since the Great Depression.

Trump has made it clear he is great if this Shutdown lasts weeks or months. He has come up with no negotiating points.

I can see the low information crowd** assailing Pelosi for being away and unable to negotiate. But (1) does that mean she’s grounded until Trump’s hand gets forced in some way and (2) it’s not like Pelosi does not have other House leadership who could sit in on negotiations.

@Ohio Mom:
I didn’t read all of that thread, but I saw a bunch of those stories and I appreciated them a lot. Thanks for your kind words and support! The damage is pretty negligible on my car and I haven’t gotten a call from that other driver so far. I’ll have to have to wait and see.

Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) Tweeted:
For some reason, after speaking secretly with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump tried to sell the Russian government’s false version of Russian intrusion in the U.S. election to an American reporter. ..as the sitting president of the United States.

Thanks for the Farm crisis links. I’d forgotten all about the grain embargo. It all came back.

It’s such a weird sensation to be reminded of something you totally forgot you ever knew, and all of a sudden, it’s like you never forgot it. It’s completely different than when you know you forgot something and you are racking your brains.

@jl:
I agree. This is actually becoming really scary. This is different than previous shutdowns primarily because of who was in charge during them. Sure there was a shutdown under Trump last year, but that was under unified GOP control. Trump ultimately got what he wanted in that moment, IIRC. He won’t this time if the Dems remain strong.

I think it’s rich that the GOP called Obama a dictator and claimed that he acted “lawlessly” in his EOs. As always, they’re about winning at any cost and only care about attaining power. They’re more than content to surrender their constitutional powers if it means their very own strongman enacts their agenda.

Agree with Jay in the sense that Dems playing the press game exclusively according to the straight-jacket of optics is self-defeating. If you assume that Republicans will misrepresent everything to their advantage and that the press will air the Republican grievance no matter how misleading, Irrespective of what you do, you will never be far from the mark.

If yer gonna get criticized in the press anyway, you may as well take the opportunity to transcend the narrow frame.

“Yes, we went overseas to get debriefed and reassure our NATO allies that not everyone in the U.S. government is acting like Archie Bunker on a bender. It’s important to remind my fellow Americans: The government would not be shut down if Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump were not holding the entire American people hostage to their undemocratic temper tantrum. This long exercise in spite by the Repulican leadership and Mr. Trump is unworthy of every citizen, and I encourage every patriotic American to call your representatives and let them know it. Just because some reckless Republicans feel entitled to ignore their oaths of office and play Russian roulette with our national security and our economy, that does not mean Democrats must play that dangerous game.”

I ain’t real good with the politicalese, granted, but the sentiment is there. Push fucking back on the idiotic juvenile “gotcha” press framing. If the press wantsta play their little game, make them shoehorn their insipid trivialities against a response that highlights their role in aiding and abetting this travesty.

@debbie: from Axios… “Sanders said Trump cancelled the trip “out of consideration for the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay” as a result of the government shutdown. Sources told Axios last week that the size of the delegation was likely to shrink if the shutdown continued, as administration officials were aware of the bad optics of socializing with plutocrats and global elites while federal workers remained furloughed.”

Is there any possibility that the likelyhood of such a DJT (or miller or whatever) asshole move was anticipated by Pelosi or her staff? I’m back to Mandalay’s comments on optics, which are valid though DJT’s move still makes me livid. TBH I hadn’t gamed out the NP play yesterday but… ?

…Either the government shutdown is a big fucking deal, or it isn’t. And if it is Pelosi should be staying in Washington until it is resolved. …

If big toddler Trump is not willing to negotiate with Speaker Pelosi, then she does nothing by staying in Washington DC. Nothing. She accomplishes more by doing her planned activities than to be pretending to be waiting upon Trump’s decision to speak with her.

She doesn’t need to be practicing her lady-in-waiting skills for Trump! We don’t have ladies-in-waiting in a democracy, we have women with power, and she should be using her power avoiding being at the beck and call of Pig Trump.

none of the Department of State personnel deployed forward in Afghanistan are furloughed. Every one of those foreign service officers and contractors are listed, on their deployment orders and letters of authorization, as emergency essential personnel.

The incorrect and negative interpretation of One Random Guy is not to be mistaken for the actual facts of a situation. And it’s certainly not a great basis to dig yourself into a deep hole for…

Either the government shutdown is a big fucking deal, or it isn’t. And if it is Pelosi should be staying in Washington until it is resolved.

I can’t make it any fucking clearer than that. That’s what I believe,

Well, everyone is allowed to believe stupid shit, and here’s the proof of that.

Pandering to Trump’s obstruction of the functioning of our government is no benefit to the Democratic leadership in Washington. Yet that’s what you are recommending, nay demanding!! Pandering to the terrible tantrums of Trump, so sad!

Interest rates on farm loans and mortgages still have a ways to climb before they compare to the 80s. I don’t know how accumulated wealth for farmers stands today. Similarities would be Carter’s embargo on Russia in the late 70s, low crop prices and what else?